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Bright Pink Founder and CEO, Lindsay Avner was just 22 when she was diagnosed with same genetic mutation on BRCA1 gene that Angelina Jolie has. As per the National Cancer Institute, the gene mutation alone indicated 55 to 65 percent chance of developing breast cancer and 39 percent chance of ovarian cancer. When the disease was combined with family history, the chances were even greater.

Lindsay’s grandmother and great-mother died from breast cancer in a week apart before she was born. At the age of 12, she watched her mother struggling with breast and ovarian cancer.

“I had convinced that I [would have] tested negative,” Avner said. “I felt like I had my father’s side…I was like I’m not going to have to deal with it. It was totally shocking and totally jarring.”

“Here I am at 22 years old and I feel like there’s a cloud of cancer following me,” said Avner.

Avner said she and her doctors decided to wait until she was 35 to have the second surgery to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes so that she could have a chance of being pregnant.

“In the back of your mind [there’s a] lurching feeling, ‘Hurry up get married, have children, get your ovaries out at 35,’” Avner recalled. “That pressure it was undeniable.”

Avner, now 32, is engaged and plans to start a family as soon as she is married later in this year.

The founder of Bright Pink non-profit organization aims at educating young woman at risk of breast and ovarian cancer so that they can be prepared for the situation.

-Smrutirekha